All posts tagged Christmas

Cream Wafers

Okay, so I know Christmas is over. But, I have one last Christmas cookie to share because it is my absolute favorite. After fulfilling everyone else’s cookie requests, I just didn’t have a chance to make these cream wafers until the last minute on Christmas Eve. These are cookies from my childhood, the cookies that I made with my mom in preparation for Christmas. The recipe comes from the super fun 1963 Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book. Yep, going old school. I brought some to my mother-in-law’s house for Christmas and they loved them. But, I was kind of surprised that none of them had ever seen them before. The wafer part of the cookie reminds me of sugared pie crust. Kind of like my mom used to make with pie crust scraps, sprinkled with sugar and baked until crisp. Then, they are filled with a sweet, pastel colored buttercream frosting. Okay, so maybe it is too late for Christmas cookies. But you can change the shape and the color of the filling to suit any holiday. I think hearts with pink frosting would be really cute for Valentine’s Day. If you squish the frosting out a touch on the sides, you could even roll them in sprinkles. Am I trying too hard to justify making these cookies after Christmas? Maybe…but these are way too good to be designated Christmas only cookies!

Cream Wafers

1 cup butter ( I used softened)

1/3 cup whipping cream (35% butterfat)

2 cups all purpose flour (Gold Medal recommended)

granulated sugar for coating

Measure flour by dipping method (dip cup into flour, pull it up with heaping flour, level off with a spatula). Mix butter, cream and flour thoroughly in a mixer bowl. Chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll dough to 1/8″ thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 1 1/2″ rounds (or another shape you like). Transfer to a wax paper heavily sprinkled with sugar, turning to coat both sides very well. Place on an ungreased sheet- I used parchment paper. Prick in 4 places with a fork. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, or until they start to puff and barely brown on the bottoms. Sandwich two cookies together with the filling.

Frosting

1/4 cup soft butter

3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

food coloring if desired

Blend the soft butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a mixer bowl until well combined. Add tint if desired. I made my cookies on the small side, so I needed more frosting. I suggest making 1 and 1/2 recipes of frosting.

Source: Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book

7 Comments

by Just Baked on December 29, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Cookies

Tagged buttercream, Christmas, cookies, cream, sandwich

Posted by Just Baked on December 29, 2011

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/cream-wafers/

Cakies

I’ll admit it. I have a hard time passing by the Lofthouse Cookies at the grocery store without putting a package in my cart. I am such a sucker for soft sugar cookies with creamy buttercream frosting. But, knowing that the homemade version tastes so much better, I can usually convince myself not to buy them when I can make them at home. This recipe for cakies isn’t supposed to be a Loftthouse copycat, but they really remind me of them. The cookie base is super soft, but less like a cookie and more like cake as the name implies. There is no rolling involved, as the dough is just dropped on the cookie sheets. That’s a bonus! Although these are supposed to be Christmas cookies, the frosting and the decorations can change color to coordinate with different holidays. So, they can easily be made year round. That’s a good thing, because once you try these cakies, you won’t be able to wait until Christmas to make them again!

Cakies

Yield: 6 dozen by the recipe, I got about 4 dozen.

Cookies

1/2 cup Crisco Butter Flavor Shortening

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Sprinkles, food coloring, and other decorations optional

Day 1: Put shortening, brown sugar and sugar in a mixer bowl, and beat with the paddle on medium until creamy. Reduce the speed to low and blend in the eggs one at a time. Add the sour cream, blending until just combined. Add the vanilla and mix until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2: In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Remove the mixer bowl from the fridge and lock it onto the stand. With the mixer on low, blend in the flour mixture a bit at a time, until just incorporated. The dough will look thick and sticky like tapioca pudding. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment or spray with Pam. When the dough is cold, drop it by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. I got 12 cookies/sheet. Place the remaining dough in the fridge between batches. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until the cookies just begin to turn golden on the edges. Remove from the oven and cool for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost when cool. Add the decorations while the frosting is still warm.

Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

2 to 4 Tbsp hot water

Place the powdered sugar in a mixer bowl with a whisk attachment. Slowly add the butter and vanilla, mixing on medium-low until well combined, ~ 1 minute. Add 2 Tbsp of water and mix until blended. Add more water, a small bit at a time, until you reach desired spreading consistency.

Source: Sugar, Sugar: Every Recipe Has a Story

Helpful Hints:

Note this is a 2 day process
Make sure you apply colored sugar or other decorations right after applying the frosting. The frosting will harden a bit and the sugar won’t stick.
You may have to add more powdered sugar and/or water to get the right consistency to spread.
If the frosting thickens too much in the middle of frosting the cookies, whisk in a bit more water.
I had a hard time getting them to keep a circular shape with 1 Tbsp of batter. I used about 1.5 tsp of batter instead and it made for better shaped cookies. Reduce baking time accordingly.

3 Comments

by Just Baked on December 22, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Cookies

Tagged Christmas, cookie, dessert, frosted, sugar

Posted by Just Baked on December 22, 2011

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/cakies/

Star Cookies

Today I decided to make not a Christmas cookie from my childhood, but from my husband’s. When Justin was a kid, his family used to make these crisp, roll out, vanilla scented cookies, cut them with various cookie cutters, brush them with butter and decorate them with colored sugar. His favorite cookies, like spritz, are always the pain in the butt kind of cookies. Makes sense. While they do take awhile to make, they are so fun for the kids to decorate. We always end up knee deep in sprinkles and have to pry the cookies off the parchment because they are shalacked with colored sugar to the sheet. My daughter put sprinkles on one cookie so thick, I was able to scoop some of them off with a spoon and decorate 4 other cookies and the original cookie was still pretty caked. Then, my husband comes by and decorates his one cookie each year, so he can say he helped. But, that’s okay because there are more for us to decorate and that is our favorite part. It makes it all worth it when Sammie says to me, “This is so fun! This is the best day of my life.” Mine too, sweet girl. Mine too.

Star Cookies

Yield: depends on how thin you roll them and the sizes of the cookie cutters- I get about 80 cookies.

2 cups sugar

1 pound butter (room temp)- cut into chunks

4 eggs

3 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 vanilla bean, scraped or up to 1 tsp vanilla bean paste- optional

2 tsp baking powder

6 to 8 cups all purpose flour

Melted butter

sanding sugar

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. This will take several minutes, as you want it to be more smooth than granular. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and vanilla bean/paste if using. In a medium bowl, mix 6 cups of flour with the baking powder. Slowly add this flour mixture into the butter mixture until all incorporated. Continue to add plain flour until you get the right consistency- you want it still wet, but not super sticky. It should hold together when you press it with your fingers. I usually add about 6 and 3/4 cups total. I would err on the side of too sticky, as you can always add more flour when rolling the dough. Chill a minimum of 2 hours for the dough to get firm.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll about a 1/4 of the batch at a time on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Roll to a bit less than 1/4 inch thickness. Use various shaped cookie cutters to cut the dough. Place the shaped dough on parchment lined cookie sheets and refrigerate for about 1/2 hour. (I skip this step- if you refrigerate, you will get less spreading, but I find I get little spreading anyways and it just takes more time). Brush the tops with melted butter and apply colored sugar to decorate. Bake for 6-9 minutes. Remove from the oven when they just start to brown on the edges- the tops should not be brown. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes and finish cooling on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Source: Jeanne Gates (my mother in law)

Helpful Hints:

I add a vanilla bean scraped or about 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste. I like the extra vanilla flavor.
Start checking for doneness at 6 minutes, but mine took close to 9 minutes. You want them to just be starting to brown on the edges. The tops should not be brown or they are overdone.
Make sure the cookie sheets are cool in between batches to reduce spreading.
I like using parchment paper. It makes for easy removal of the cookies cemented to the paper

2 Comments

by Just Baked on December 20, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Cookies

Tagged Christmas, cookies, dessert

Posted by Just Baked on December 20, 2011

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/star-cookies/

Buckeyes

You had to know this was coming when I mentioned that it just didn’t seem like Christmas without 2 things: fudge and buckeyes. You saw the fudge, but then no buckeyes. I actually did make them the day after I made the fudge…but funny story. I rolled all the peanut butter dough into balls and then I had to refrigerate them before dipping. I didn’t have room in the fridge, so I thought I would just put them on a cookie sheet with a cover that snaps on tight. Just to ensure they were safe, especially from my pug Walter, I put them on top of my grill. When I went to roll them the next day, the cover was removed, neatly tucked into the handle of the grill. About a quarter of the peanut butter balls were missing. I don’t know what kind of animal it was, probably a raccoon or some squirrels, but needless to say, I was not happy. I had to throw over 100 perfectly rolled, delicious peanut butter balls in the garbage. This is the kind of stuff that only happens to me! So, today I made them all over again. Only this time, I made sure to make room in the fridge.

Buckeyes

Yield: 100-150 (depending on how big you roll them)

Filling

1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar (almost 6 cups)

1/2 pound room temperature butter (2 sticks)

1 pound creamy peanut butter (2 cups) I love Peter Pan Honey Roasted Creamy

1 Tbsp vanilla

Coating

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 slab paraffin wax (found in the canning or baking section of most grocery stores)

Combine powdered sugar, butter, peanut butter and vanilla in the bowl of a mixer. Beat slow at first until the powdered sugar gets incorporated, then beat on medium until well combined. Form the dough into balls, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Put the balls in a bowl or on a cookie sheet, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. To melt the chocolate, use a double boiler or a small, heavy bottomed saucepan. Put the chips and the paraffin (cut into small pieces) into the pan, and heat on low, mixing continuously until smooth. Remove from heat. Remove the peanut butter balls from the fridge and using a long wooden skewer, dip the balls, leaving a small circle of peanut butter showing at the top. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You may need to put the peanut butter balls back in the fridge if they get too soft to dip. You may also have to reheat the chocolate if it cools so much it starts to thicken/solidify. Use your fingers to smooth out the skewer hole on top of each candy. Freeze to set, then store in cookie tins in the freezer or fridge if using soon. I think they taste better at room temperature.

Source: Penseys Spices Holiday 2000

Helpful Hints:

Use a small saucepan, so the chocolate is deeper for easy dipping.
I have found wooden shish kebob skewers to be the best for dipping.
The paraffin wax helps to make the chocolate coating more smooth and more stable.

6 Comments

by Just Baked on December 19, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Candy

Tagged Candy, chocolate, Christmas, peanut butter

Posted by Just Baked on December 19, 2011

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/buckeyes/

Spritz Cookies

Let me just say, for some reason, a cookie press is my nemesis. I have tried manual, battery operated, and electric presses. They all give me trouble. I even piped them by hand and while they look beautiful, oh my gosh, did that kill my hands. I always get so frustrated and mad and insist this is the last time. And, yet for some reason, I continue to make them every year. That reason, I suppose, is that spritz are one of my husband’s absolute favorite Christmas cookies. So, I continue to wrestle with that dang cookie press year after year. But, I have to admit, I do love them too. Who could resist these buttery little cookies, with a hint of vanilla, that just melt in your mouth? They are so cute in their size and shape and decorated with brightly colored sanding sugar. My mom also made spritz cookies for Christmas when I was a kid and when I mentioned I was making them she said “What a pain, I hate that cookie press!” Maybe it is genetic? So, if you are not cookie press challenged like us, definitely give these a try. If you don’t know if you are, there’s only one way to find out….

Spritz Cookies

Yield: 6 dozen cookies

1 large egg yolk

1 Tbsp heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft

2/3 cup sugar (about 4 and 2/3 ounces)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour (10 ounces)

colored sugar (optional)

Adjust oven rack to middle. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Whisk the egg yolk, cream, and vanilla together in small bowl.

In a mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and salt together on medium high until light and fluffy, about 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the yolk-cream mixture until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour until combined, about 30 seconds. If using a cookie press, follow the manufacturers instructions. If using a pastry bag, fit it with a 1/2 inch star tip, fill the bag with half of the dough, hold the bag at a 90° angle to the sheet and pipe straight down, about 1 inch diameter. Space the cookies about 1.5 inches apart.

Bake 1 sheet at a time, until just barely golden brown, 9-12 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through. Watch carefully. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Helpful Hints:

Make sure your butter is very soft or the dough will be too stiff to form cookies
Bake 1 sheet at a time. While they bake, you can prepare a second sheet.
Do not put shaped dough on a hot cookie sheet or you will lose their perfect shape.
I like to add a vanilla bean or some vanilla bean paste for added vanilla flavor.
They go quickly, I suggest making a double batch

5 Comments

by Just Baked on December 14, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Cookies

Tagged Christmas, cookies

Posted by Just Baked on December 14, 2011

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/spritz-cookies/

Cappuccino Fudge

I don’t make a lot of candy at Christmas, mostly because I prefer baking cookies. But it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without homemade fudge and buckeyes. Many times fudge recipes require using a candy thermometer. And while I do own one, I don’t use it much because it can make something simple like fudge a lot more complicated than it has to be. So, that is why I love this cappuccino fudge recipe I found on Annie’s Eats several years ago. No thermometer required. Perfect. The addition of espresso and cinnamon is a nice change from the usual fudge. It is really creamy and in the words of my 4 yo daughter, both amazing and incredible. I always double the batch, since the original recipe only makes an 8 x 8 pan. That would never be enough for my family. Since it keeps so well in the fridge, I can make it far in advance of Christmas and have it last quite awhile…that is if I can keep my children from eating it all!!

Cappuccino Fudge
Ingredients:

1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow cream
½ cup sugar
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup butter
1 tsp instant espresso powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 (12 oz.) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with aluminum foil with overhang on all four sides; set aside. In a 2 qt. saucepan, combine marshmallow cream, sugar, cream, butter, espresso powder, cinnamon and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Place on cutting board and cut into 36 squares.

Source: Annie’s Eats

Helpful Hints:

This recipe is the original recipe for an 8×8 pan of fudge. I double all ingredients and cook it in an 8 quart stock pot, and spread it in an aluminum foil lined 13×9 pan.
Make sure you mix the chocolate chips until smooth so no pieces of chocolate remain.
I drop the pan on the counter to try to pop any air bubbles before refrigeration.
I find the fudge cuts better when cold, but tastes better at room temperature.

6 Comments

by Just Baked on December 7, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Candy

Tagged Candy, chocolate, Christmas, Coffee

Posted by Just Baked on December 7, 2011

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/cappuccino-fudge/

Sugar Cakes

To my children, the first of December means starting their advent calendars and jumping out of bed every morning, asking for their chocolate. To me, it marks the beginning of Christmas baking season! Every year, I create an impossibly long list of confections. It is just so hard to narrow it down. The problem is twofold: I don’t like to make decisions and I tend to overdo, well, pretty much everything I do. There are a few cookies and candies that are must-make and then I like to try some new recipes. When I make cream wafers, I am instantly taken back to when I was a kid and baked them with my mom. We would roll them out thin, cut them into small circles using a special glass given to her by her mother and then frost them with pastel pink and green frosting before sandwiching them together. I now make them with my children, using a shot glass to replace the special glass that broke many years ago, with the hope of creating the same memories. Every recipe has a story and that is the premise behind the book Sugar, Sugar. The book is a collection of recipes, submitted by people across the country, that have passed through the generations and the stories behind them.

I was looking for a new Christmas cookie and I thought Sugar Cakes would be perfect. Don’t be fooled. While these look like sugar cookies, they actually have the texture of very soft, spongy cakes and they are a bit less sweet. This recipe came from a German family who emigrated to a Pennsylvania Dutch town in the 1700s and it was passed on through the generations. A 300 year old recipe! Don’t you just love that? You can decorate them in the traditional green and red for Christmas, but we use rainbow confetti sugar because Sammie likes her cookies fancy. My husband loved them and they were kid approved. So, if you are looking for something different to add to your Christmas cookie platter this year, these may just be it!

Sugar Cakes:

Yield: 6 dozen cookies (depending on the size you make them)

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups granulated sugar, plus more for topping

3 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup hot water

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray. In a medium bowl whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside. Place the butter, shortening and sugar in a mixer bowl and beat with paddle on medium until creamy. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time. Add half of the flour mixture and blend. Slowly incorporate the buttermilk. Add the remaining flour mixture and blend until smooth. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water, stir for 20-30 seconds, until the water is clear (no longer cloudy). Slowly blend into the mixture. Add the vanilla and beat just until combined.

The dough should be baked immediately. Place any remaining batter in the fridge between batches. Drop the dough by tablespoons on the baking sheet, 1 inch apart. Sprinkle them with a generous amount of granulated sugar or colored sugar, and gently press sugar into the dough.

Bake for 10-11 minutes, until the edges just barely brown. Remove from the oven and cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Source: Sugar, Sugar: Every Recipe Has a Story

Helpful Hints:

The recipe says to use 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie ( I got 9 cookies/sheet). I found that the cookies got too big, spreading too much, becoming misshapen. I scaled back to about 1.5 tsp, got 12 cookies per/sheet and got better looking cookies. I then baked them about 8-9 minutes.
Try to keep the dough you drop as circular as you can. Again, this helps to create round cookies.
I sprinkled some granulated sugar on the dough, before the colored sugar, as I found I liked the cookies a bit sweeter.
Keep a close on the first batch to gauge cook time. You want the edges just barely brown.
Try to get the shortening sticks. They allow more accurate measurement and prevent yucky, greasy hands